The next stage of a legal battle could decide whether dancers return to the stage of a closed topless bar in Warren.

Owners of the shuttered Jon Jon’s lounge and the investors in the property on Mound Road, north of 11 Mile Road, have asked a judge to declare a zoning ordinance and regulations of sexually oriented businesses, unconstitutional.

According to the most recent lawsuit, filed in Macomb County Circuit Court, the measures fail to recognize adult entertainment as a protected form of free speech and free expression.

The bar, which began operating in the mid-1970s, closed a few years ago for major renovations and expansion. That plan was abruptly halted by the city almost three years ago, when a building inspector slapped a stop-work order on the construction, claiming work far exceeded the terms of a zoning variance approved by the city.

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In early 2009, the zoning board had granted a zoning variance permitting Jon Jon’s to install an 11.67-by-15 foot addition to a walk-in refrigerator and to increase the height of the roof to no more than 33.5 feet. In August 2010, officials charged that the renovations that followed amounted to a virtual demolition and that construction of a new and completely different building followed. That included demolition of interior walls, a new façade and 29-foot brick towers.

The ZBA and attorneys for the city said Jon Jon’s had far exceeded terms of the variance. Warren’s lawyers also claimed that the initial value of the project — $375,000 — violated the zoning ordinance because it exceeded the cap of 30 percent of the total true value of the property of non-conforming businesses.

In a severe blow to Jon Jon’s, city officials in January 2011 claimed the adult entertainment lounge relinquished its long-held designation as a “non-conforming” — but permitted — use of property in a commercial district. Jon Jon’s lawyers defended the expansion project and emphasized that the Warren Planning Commission had approved the site plan; that the Building Department had issued permits allowing the work; and that a zoning inspector had no authority to order the work be stopped.

Warren’s attorneys sought a declaratory judgment in Macomb County Circuit Court. Jon Jon’s shareholders Victoria Cerrito and Masoud Sesi filed a countersuit, making some of the same claims as in a federal lawsuit over the City Council’s rejection of a liquor license transfer.

The unanimous rejection by the ZBA was upheld in February 2012 by Macomb County Circuit Judge Peter Maceroni. Jon Jon’s representatives sought to appeal Maceroni’s ruling. The Michigan Court of Appeals declined in January 2013 to hear the case.

Then last March, Jon Jon’s and Warren Property Investments LLC sought two new zoning variances that would have allowed construction to resume. The request marked the third time in four years that representatives sought approval to expand and re-open less than 750 feet from a residential area and less than 1,000 feet from a day care business.

The revised proposal called for exterior lighting and simulated flames atop two pillars that were part of original plans for the “new” club, “Sapphire,” to be scaled back.

The Board of Appeals rejected the request, which also was opposed by members of the Central Home Owners of Warren association.

In a separate legal move filed in Circuit Court in May, the topless lounge is challenging the ZBA’s decision.

The lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the city’s laws on adult entertainment business alleges that sweeping changes to the city’s sexually oriented business ordinance in 2010 are “overly broad” and have made it impossible to find another suitable site for the business. Warren officials insisted tougher regulations were needed to combat negative, “secondary” effects of adult entertainment businesses.

“There’s really no other place to go in the city. We had a company look at available parcels,” Vincenzo Manzella, a lawyer for Jon Jon’s and Warren Property Investments, said Tuesday.

Manzella said an amicable end to the lengthy dispute appears unlikely.

“If we could resolve it, we would,” he said, “but I don’t think there’s any chance for resolution by the city.”

With construction and cash register idled, representatives of two corporations seek damages for lost revenue and reimbursement of their lawyers’ fees. Manzella declined to comment on how much money his clients feel they’ve missed.

Warren City Attorney James Biernat did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.